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Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr will meet with Portugal’s center-right government on Monday to formally signal Lufthansa’s interest in privatizing state airline TAP, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Lufthansa plans to take a 19.9 percent stake in TAP Air Portugal, below the 20 percent threshold that would require approval from the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator, one of the sources said.
The Portuguese government and Lufthansa declined to comment.
The second source said the meeting between Spohr and two TAP regulators – Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento and Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz – took place at Lufthansa’s request.
Spohr entered the main entrance of the Finance Ministry just after 11 a.m. local time (10 a.m. GMT), accompanied by three other people, including the infrastructure minister.
The meeting comes as Portugal seeks to push ahead with the privatization of the wholly state-owned airline by the end of the year, a third source said.
Sources said that while the sale process is still at a very early stage, the government intends to speed it up as all signs point to interest from potential buyers.
The first source said Lufthansa’s view was that the government might prefer it as a buyer because they would retain TAP Air Portugal’s autonomy, but that a formal process had not yet begun.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday that Lufthansa was interested in buying a 19.9 percent stake.
At least two other major industry players – British Airways owner IAG and Air France-KLM – have expressed interest in TAP Air Portugal.
In July, Portugal’s infrastructure minister said he wanted to privatize TAP Air Portugal as soon as possible to take advantage of market interest in the airline.
Its most attractive assets are key flight slots from its Lisbon hub to Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African countries and the United States.
The current government, which came to power in April this year, has not yet determined the privatization model. The previous center-left government approved the sale of at least 51% of TAP shares in September 2023, but the government did not have time to implement the plan before the general election held earlier this year.
European airlines say consolidation is needed to help the industry cope with soaring operating costs, but Brussels is concerned that the three largest European groups are too dominant and has taken a negative view on mergers.
British Airways owner IAG last month abandoned plans to buy Spanish rival Air Europa after rejecting a European Commission request for more remedies to allow the deal.
TAP Air Portugal said last week its second-quarter net profit fell 10 percent to 72.2 million euros as foreign exchange losses offset a rise in operating revenue.
Read more by Euractiv
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